Coach hails West Indies’ win – Second Digicel ODI at Queen’s Park Oval is victorious for once

by AirBourne / April 14th, 2008

West Indies coach John Dyson heaped praise on his side for their successfully clinching the One-day International series against Sri Lanka with a game to spare.

“The guys did a sensational job overall,” Dyson told reporters. “We bowled well and fielded well. There were a couple little errors that we would like to avoid, but overall the fielding effort was very, very good.

The victory gave West Indies an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, after they won the opening ODI by one wicket in a dramatic finish last Thursday at the same venue.

“Every series is important,” he said. “I’ve always said that at international level, your aim is to win the series.

“Our group of guys has been working hard for some time and I’m really pleased for them that they’ve been able to put it together in front of their home crowd.”

Dyson however, reserved special praise for the embattled Marlon Samuels, whose place in the side was under question, following a string of low scores in the preceding Test series and the first ODI.

Samuels returned from South Africa as the best batsman on either side of the West Indies’ series there, but he has had to contend with a couple of major career threatening issues which seems to have undermined him.

He was banned by the ICC, cricket’s World governing body, from bowling in international matches because of a suspect action, and he is to face a West Indies Cricket Board disciplinary hearing to answer charges of match-fixing after an investigation into his relationship with an Indian bookmaker.

“I’ve been saying all along that in the nets, Marlon has looked in great form,” Dyson said. “Within himself, he has been relaxed and confident about his ability.

“It was a superb innings he played under a bit of pressure because of all the talk that has been going on and because we lost a couple of wickets with the new ball. He played the match perfectly. It just goes to show that Marlon has great skill.”

The third and final ODI in the series will be contested tomorrow at the Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia.